Michael Heraghty visits a shopping website that simply can’t keep up with demand.

Published in the Irish Independent (registration may be required) on December 20, 1999.

Houseofireland.com, one of the country’s leading e-commerce stores, has had to temporarily stop processing orders due to unprecedented demand. Until the New Year, the site is strictly for window e-shoppers, who can still browse the Aran sweaters, Belleek and Waterford crystal.

In keeping with good customer relationship management, the online gift shop is informing all visitors of the situation, which rivals would deem enviable.

“We have been inundated with orders over the last two weeks, having received three times the normal level,” announces a disclaimer on the front of the site.

Roger Galligan, chief executive of House of Ireland — which has bricks-and-mortar outlets in Nassau Street and Dublin Airport — revealed that the rush started around November 5th, when US customers began looking for Thanksgiving gifts.

“By early December — when Christmas shopping traditionally takes off in the States — we were receiving so many orders, it was difficult to cope,” he conceded. Nevertheless, some optimistic shoppers are still placing orders. “In these cases, we email customers to make it quite clear that their presents are not guaranteed to arrive in time for the holidays, especially when seasonal postal delays are taken into account,” Galligan pointed out.

Almost all sales come from Irish America, explaining why prices on the site are quoted in US dollars. “Americans are comfortable with mail order,” he explained. “Geographically, it’s a massive country, so receiving goods from faraway warehouses is quite normal. That’s why the US has adapted so quickly to e-commerce.”

Galligan believes that those trends will soon mould the Irish psyche in their favour. “The potential for shopping over the internet is huge in this country. It won’t be long before we’re ordering pizzas and renting movies this way.”

But the off-and-online merchant is worried that Irish companies are simply waiting for e-commerce to happen, by which time they might well be left behind. “Now is the time to go build your brand online,” he proffered, adding that his company is considering separating its “clicks identity” from its “bricks identity”.

The success of HouseofIreland.com — which began as a homemade internet site back in 1994 — has led to the recent purchase of an extra warehouse, although Galligan hinted that the company is actively seeking a new building, “with twice as much space.”